Iraqi Army Begins M1A1 Tank Training

In this Oct. 31, 2008 file photo, Iraqi Soldiers are introduced to the tanks their Army will use in the future. Photo by Spc. Chase Kincaid, Joint Combat Camera Center Iraq.

TAJI — The Iraqi Army Armor School here hosted an M1A1 tank orientation for the first group of 28 Iraqi Army M1A1 tank crewmen, Dec. 21.

The crewmen, selected from the cadre of current Iraqi Army Armor School instructors and Iraqi Army 9th Mechanized Infantry Division, will continue their orientation through Jan. 2.

Final selectees will then participate in a three month train-the-trainer course with U.S. Army instructors at the CombatTraining Center.

Once their training is complete, the graduates will serve as instructors for the remaining Iraqi Army crews, building basic M1A1 skills prior to the arrival of their own M1A1 tanks.

This approach will allow the Iraqi Army to significantly accelerate the fielding of its new armor regiments. The Government of Iraq purchased 140 advanced M1A1 Abrams Integrated Management Situational Awareness tanks scheduled to arrive in the fall of 2010.

“The M1A1 tank is the future of Iraq; the Soviet equipment is our past….the M1A1s will lead us into the future,” said Iraqi Army Col. Ghazi, Iraqi Army Armor School Commandant.

Compared to what? None of their neighbors have armor in the category of M1s except Saudi and Kuwait which do not have large enough armys to be a real threat.

You can have the best tanks in the world but, with so few, not be able to cover the 1000km border with Iran. Not to mention the border with Iran’s formal ally Syria. 140 M1s is 4 tank bns or 12-20km of frontage. To properly fill the IA out, they need 1400-2100 tanks. They cannot afford the delivery time or money spent on all M1s.

For the price of those 140 M1s, they could buy 1400 M60s. Then, as they have money available, upgrade them to M60-120S. The M60-120S cost half as much as the M1 and is better than anything Iran or Syria have. Simular to the upgrades Turkey and Jordan are going with.

They are still making them.

The line almost closed during the Clinton years but, the Egyptian buys kept it open.

The current remanufacture program for the US Army is 110 M1A1s being remanufactured to M1A2 per every 30 completely new M1A2s.

Then there is the foreign sales to Egypt, Saudi, Kuwait, etc...

The photo linked in post 34 does not have a bore evacuator on the main gun - the one in the article does. Also, the one in the article has the turret hatch on a swivel - this was never done on a BMP-1.

One of these things is not like the other...

Well, that brings back memories. I haven’t driven a PT76 since about 1985, I guess.

And you are correct - it is not a PT76. The turret is off center, and has only one hatch, while the 76 has a centered turret and two hatches.

If, however, it is a BMP-1, somebody modified the heck out of it.

Crawled around on some shot up ones myself.

The Iraqis have been doing their own mods to their armor for decades. And we did not bomb Taji in 2003. They used to assemble T72s there. The entire inventory of T55s, BMP1s, and MTLBs that formed the 1st Mech Bde (pre-2005) were salvage/refit.

The 2nd Tank Bde was equipped with HA (formerly DDR) BMP1s and HU T72s. The 2nd is now the 35/9 Tank Bde.

The 1st has since added salvaged T72s and replaced the MTLBs with more HA BMP1s and is now designated 34/9 Mech Bde.

When the Slovak T72s arrive the 34/9 and 36/9 Bdes are expected to become armor Bdes. And the IA 9th Mechanized Division will then become the 9th Armored Division.

I am not sure whether the mod to the BMP1 was done by the Germans, Greeks, or Iraqis.

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